Chapter 37 #2
Several guards stood around the room, and I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable with all the scrutiny. I approached the bed, noted the cardiac and neurological readings on the monitor, and for a few minutes, just stood there looking at her.
Her head was shaved, but even bald, Kaori was beautiful.
Her full lips, once white as paper, had returned to their natural color—red and well-defined.
Her skin was fair with a slight yellow undertone, her face rounded and flat, the typical Vinturian look.
Her nose, though not thin, was elegant and upturned.
I had no idea what color her eyes were, but they were clearly large and almond-shaped.
A cream sheet covered her, but it was obvious her body had been sculpted by some kind of elmedic plastic surgeon.
Vinturians had straight, curveless bodies, but Kaori wasn't like that.
Her breasts were full, her hips wide, and her backside had been shaped to be round—not square, as her people's genetics dictated.
I adjusted the sheet to cover her up to her neck and noticed my necklace resting there.
I recharged it again, letting it work in case something was still healing inside her.
When I left the room, I had to massage my forehead to smooth out the frown lines forming there.
I didn’t want to admit it—and I wasn’t proud of it—but every time I looked at Kaori, I felt uneasy, as if something was wrong, something obvious that I couldn’t quite see, yet it kept needling me.
Maybe it was jealousy—jealousy that Kaori had more of Zion than I ever did, that he considered her someone important and close to him, given all the years they’d spent fighting side by side while I was alone.
Feeling pathetic, I banished the obsessive thought from my mind and headed to the hospital locker room.
Δ
I found Aish stretching as soon as I stepped out of the gymnasium locker room. It had been a week since I’d been there, but with everything that had happened in the last few days, it felt like centuries. Excited, I walked over to her.
“Hi, Aish,” I called out, stepping into view as she stretched her arms. The moment she saw me, Aish broke into a huge smile.
“Hello, zoozi!” she sang, then surprised me with a hug. Hugs were an Ampér thing. They liked to touch and be touched; their greetings were usually like this, which sometimes caught us off guard. “I missed you. I heard you were busy at the hospital.”
“We had some problems, but everything’s fine now! What did I miss yesterday?” I asked, looking around.
Hiro and Breno were practicing punches on the heavy bag. Aish seemed to follow my gaze, and her smile faded.
“You didn’t miss much. Cauê is training us, so we don’t fight to knockout. We’re doing the same as before, just lighter,” she said, finishing her stretches and beginning a series of movements I’d never done but always saw her do alone before training.
I took my place beside her and copied her gestures, balancing on one leg and moving my arms slowly, hands open with fingers pressed together. It was like we were drawing in the air. As I enjoyed her warm company, I realized I didn’t know much about her, so I decided to change that.
“What do you want to do after you finish the academy, Aish?”
She cast me a sidelong glance, as if she hadn’t expected the question.
“Go back home,” she replied, bringing her hands together and squatting on one leg while stretching the other out without using her hands for support. “I have two paths to choose from: become a trainer at Ampér schools or join the army.”
“Who taught you to fight so well?”
“My mother and father. They work in the armies. I grew up in the Amperian camp and loved taking Tama-ki classes.”
“What’s Tama-ki?” I frowned, trying to balance by bracing my hands on my bent leg. It was hard to keep my balance while doing the arm movements.
“It’s what we’re doing now. A fast fighting style from Ampér. It means ‘sand and wind.’ Here, we fight with fists, but there, we fight with open hands and a staff. It’s agile and beautiful—it looks like a dance.”
I remembered all the times I’d seen Aish in action.
Watching her fight had something poetic to it; it was fluid, constant, and fast. When she fought, she didn’t seem aggressive at all—it really was a lethal dance.
For a long moment, I had to stay quiet to concentrate on her movements, even as I sweated and trembled while trying to keep my balance.
“Do you miss Ampér?” I asked when we finally stood up.
Aish gave me a wistful look.
“I miss my family and the heat, but Interion is a better city to live in. If I can’t get a good salary there, I’ll stay here.
It’s hard to earn well in Ampér with a profession like this—people get rich easily from sinil mining there, but I don’t want to work in the caves or in some factory tied to that.
Mama always said she’d rather see me poor than have me enter the Amperian caves or deal with raw sinil.
As a last resort, I already work part-time teaching Tama-ki classes in the fairy district.
It wouldn’t be hard to make a living that way. ”
“Are the sinil caves that bad?”
I’d always been interested in other nations, but everything I knew came from old books in the library or random bits of information I’d picked up from conversations at the hospital.
“Dacare?” she exclaimed, eyes wide, hands on her hips.
I already knew enough of her words to understand it meant “what?” “The mines are horrible, zoozi. The people who work there go aikan? in the head. They get rich after a few years of work, but it’s not worth it—it’s crazy to work down there.
Only the most desperate people live like that.
I wouldn’t trade my sanity for money, so the second option is to work in the armies or teach fighting at the nation’s academy. ”
“I see.” I hadn’t known the sinil mines were dangerous for the brain. I wondered if any doctor had studied the neurological effects.
My attention drifted back to Hiro, and he seemed to be watching Aish out of the corner of his eye.
When he noticed me beside her, he nudged Breno and pointed at me.
Breno smiled—a smile so full of energy that it caught the attention of half the fairies in the room.
The two walked over to me. I hugged Breno first and then greeted Hiro.
We talked a bit about training, and soon after, Cauê entered the room announcing that the class would be something Zion had prepared: body defense training followed by an obstacle course through the Silent Woods.